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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $1,400.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Extremely sharp, great quality, ideal 'normal' lens on DX body.

Cons:

Some CA/purple fringing wide open

On a D2X I've found that this lens makes an ideal, if not cheap, normal lens.

If you think you've got even a hint of a back-focus issue with a D2X then this lens will show it at f/1.4! Focus accuracy is critical and it will show up any inaccuracy with your camera.

I found a surprising amount of CA/purple fringing in extreme contrast scenario's which Nikon Capture cleans up. If you have highlights that are close to over exposure then the CA will bloom. I've only really noticed this when using wide open f1.4, 1.8, 2.0.

If you are shooting f2.8 or more then the 17-55DX is probably as sharp and definitely more versatile.

Construction & quality are, as you should expect, excellent. If only all Nikon lenses were as superbly crafted.

Das Bosun

Registered: October 2005Posts: 7

Nikon 28mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor review by Das Bosun

Review Date: 11/23/2005

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

Great lens, even wide open this lens can deliver reasonable center sharpness

Cons:

Excessive price tag

AF Nikkor 28mm f/1.4D

All of my lens test/comparisons were performed on a Nikon D2x (reduced frame, 1.5x 12.2MP CMOS sensor). The camera was set to mirror lock-up, mounted on a tripod and fired with the MC-30 cable release. The test exposures were captured as NEF raw files and compared with no image sharpening.

The best results arrive with this lens set to around f/4. When set to f/2 this lens performs in the center as well as the AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G when it’s set to f/4. Conversely, the chromatic aberrations of the 28m f/1.4D lens aren’t as well controlled as those seen on the edges of an image taken with the 17-55mm DX lens.

Surprisingly, this lens actually delivers quite impressive center sharpness when used wide open (f/1.4). I also own the AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens. It on the other hand is quite unusable for critical sharpness at f/1.4 and f/2, as the results look like they have a soft focus filter over the lens. The 50mm f/1.4D lens starts to become usable for critical center sharpness around f/2.5.

This difference is both related to the price and place of manufacture. The 28mm f/1.4D is very expensive to purchase and is made in Japan, whereas the 50mm f/1.4D is very cheap for such a fast lens and is made in Thailand.

Vignetting is noticeable at f/1.4 and f/2, but is all but gone by the time this lens is used at apertures f/2.8 and smaller.

Mounted on a D2x the auto focus of the 28mm f/1.4D is not too far off the quiet and speed offered by an AF-S lens. Mounted on the Nikon D70 the same lens becomes noisier and is more prone to ‘searching’ in low light.

Note: these are subjective results that may not reflect your particular sample OR use of this lens.